Smart thermostat hub

ABSTRACT

A smart thermostat hub and a management platform for controlling and securing smart devices in a multi-family residential property are disclosed. Smart thermostat hubs may bi-directionally communicate with the management platform using a LoRaWAN communication link and communicate with smart devices present within an apartment of the multi-family residential property via a non-LoRaWAN communication link. Smart thermostat hub may provide a gateway or bridge between the management platform and an offline door lock, thereby enabling access credentials for an offline door lock to be disabled from the management platform, and may serve to facilitate remote configuration of other smart devices, such as thermostats and smart light fixtures, for example.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/512,577 filed Oct. 27, 2021, entitled “SMART THERMOSTATHUB”; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/912,370 filed Jun. 25, 2020, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,189,118on Nov. 30, 2021, entitled “SMART THERMOSTAT HUB”; which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/162,262 filed Oct.16, 2018, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,825,273 on Nov. 3, 2020,entitled “SMART THERMOSTAT HUB”; the disclosures of which areincorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is directed to an intelligent thermostat. Inparticular, the present disclosure is directed to an intelligentthermostat that can function as a hub having multi-band/multi-radiocommunication capabilities and can be implemented in a system forcontrolling and securing offline door locks and other smart deviceswithin a multi-family property.

BACKGROUND

Technology and the benefits it provides often plays an important rolewith respect to how many consumers make decisions. This has becomeincreasingly so in the real-estate industry, and more specifically inthe multi-family residential property market. To illustrate, Class Amulti-family residential properties (e.g., apartments, etc.) may havekeyless entry systems installed that allow residents to gain entry intotheir respective apartments by placing a fob, smartphone, or smartcardin proximity to a door lock. As another example, these Class Amulti-family residential properties may have been constructed withinfrastructure, such as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) access points and/orwired networks (e.g., Ethernet), for providing Internet access toresidents. While the security and convenience these technologies provideare attractive to residents, deploying such technologies in oldermulti-family residential properties, such as Class B and C multi-familyresidential properties, can be cost prohibitive and/or presentchallenges with respect to the security of residents of the multi-familyresidential property.

For example, keyless entry systems may utilize online door locks oroffline door locks. Online door locks may be controlled (e.g., lockedand unlocked) remotely through an Internet-accessible network connectionand locally by a device (e.g., a fob, smartphone, smartcard, etc.) thatis placed in proximity to a sensor of the online door lock, whileoffline door locks can only be controlled (e.g., locked and unlocked) bya device (e.g., a fob, smartphone, smartcard, etc.) that is placed inproximity to a sensor of the offline door lock. The cost to deploy anonline door lock-based keyless entry system in a multi-familyresidential property can be significantly higher than offline doorlock-based keyless entry systems due to the requirement that networkcommunication infrastructure (e.g., a mesh network, a Wi-Fi network,etc.) be provided to facilitate network-based control of the door lock.

While less expensive to deploy, the offline door lock-based keylessentry systems present challenges with respect to security. For example,in addition to being controlled remotely, online door locks can bemanaged remotely, such as to authorize and disable new accesscredentials. For offline door locks, new access credentials forcontrolling an offline door lock may be created via a network-basedapplication (e.g., a cloud-based application or website); however,offline door locks require an individual, such as a property manager orproperty maintenance personnel, to connect (e.g., via a universal serialbus (USB) connection) an external device (e.g., a laptop, tablet, orother electronic device) to the offline door lock and then use softwareor another utility provided by the external device to disable accesscredentials. The requirement that access credentials for offline doorlocks be disabled in person presents risks with respect to the securityof residents of a multi-family residential property. For example, if aresident's access credential (e.g., fob, smartcard, etc.) is lost orstolen, the access device may be used to gain entry into the resident'sapartment before the appropriate personnel can visit the resident'sapartment and use an external device to disable the lost or stolenaccess credential. As another example, if a resident gives an accesscredential to a non-resident and then has a falling out with thenon-resident, the resident cannot prevent the non-resident from usingaccess credential to gain entry into the resident's apartment and mustwait until the appropriate personnel can visit the resident's apartmentto disable the access credential provided to the non-resident.

SUMMARY

Embodiments described herein provide a system that comprises smartthermostat hubs and a management platform for controlling and securingsmart devices in a multi-family residential property. Smart thermostathubs may comprise a first communication interface that facilitatesbi-directional communication between smart thermostat hub and themanagement platform and a second communication interface thatfacilitates bi-directional communication between the thermostat smarthub and the smart devices present within a unit of the multi-familyresidential property. Smart thermostat hub may provide a gateway orbridge between the management platform and an offline door lock, therebyenabling access credentials for an offline door lock to be disabled fromthe management platform via the bi-directional communication linksprovided by the first and second communication interfaces of smartthermostat hub.

In addition to providing enhanced the security for offline doorlock-based keyless entry systems, smart thermostat hub may also providefunctionality for automating and improving various property managementtasks. For example, the management platform may be configured toautomatically detect (e.g., based on a database) when a unit of amulti-family residential property becomes vacant and may transmitcontrol information to smart thermostat hub of the vacant unit. Thecontrol information may include information that identifies varioussmart devices within the unit, as well as parameters for configuring theidentified smart devices. Upon receiving the control information viafirst communication interface, smart thermostat hub may transmitcommands to each of the identified smart devices via secondcommunication interface, where the commands configure the identifiedsmart devices in accordance with parameters specified in the controlinformation. Similar operations may be performed when the managementplatform detects that a resident is scheduled to move in to a vacantunit of the multi-family residential property.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conceptionand specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis formodifying or designing other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by thoseskilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appendedclaims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic ofthe invention, both as to its organization and method of operation,together with further objects and advantages will be better understoodfrom the following description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, thateach of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration anddescription only and is not intended as a definition of the limits ofthe present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the disclosed methods andapparatuses, reference should be made to the embodiments illustrated ingreater detail in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for managing andsecuring access credentials for accessing a multi-family residentialproperty using smart devices in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a smart thermostat hub in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another smart hub in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a modular smart thermostat hub inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of an intelligentproperty management system configured in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating additional aspects of anintelligent property management system configured in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating additional aspects of anintelligent property management system configured in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for securingsmart devices within an apartment of a multi-family residential propertyin accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for retrieving accesslog data from an offline door lock in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for securingan offline door lock of an apartment of a multi-family residentialproperty in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for securingan offline door lock of an apartment of a multi-family residentialproperty in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary features of an offlinedoor lock configured in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a smartthermostat in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scaleand that the disclosed embodiments are sometimes illustrateddiagrammatically and in partial views. In certain instances, detailswhich are not necessary for an understanding of the disclosed methodsand apparatuses or which render other details difficult to perceive mayhave been omitted. It should be understood, of course, that thisdisclosure is not limited to the particular embodiments illustratedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1 , a block diagram of an exemplary system formanaging and securing access credentials for accessing a multi-familyresidential property using smart devices in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure is shown as a system 100. As described in moredetail below, system 100 provides functionality that improves the mannerin which access to multi-family residential properties is managed andsecured. Additionally, system 100 may reduce the cost of deployingvarious technologies in a multi-family residential property, therebyenabling such technologies to be utilized in certain multi-familyresidential properties for which previous technologies were deemed costprohibitive, such as Class B and Class C properties.

In FIG. 1 , system 100 is illustrated as comprising smart hub 110, oneor more smart devices 120, and server 130. As shown in FIG. 1 , server130 may include one or more processors 132, memory 133, credentialmanagement module 137, and one or more communication interfaces 138.Memory 133 may include random access memory (RAM), read only memory(ROM), hard disk drives(s) (HDDs), solid state drive(s) (SSDs), networkattached storage (NAS) devices, or other types of memory devices forstoring data in a persistent or non-persistent state. Memory 133 maystore instructions 134 that, when executed by the one or more processors132, cause the one or more processors 132 to perform the operations ofserver 130 described with reference to FIGS. 1-6 . Additionally, one ormore databases 135 may be stored at memory 133. Exemplary types ofinformation that may be stored at the one or more databases 135 aredescribed in more detail below. It is noted that although FIG. 1illustrates server 130 as a standalone device, it is to be understoodthat server 130 and the functionality described herein with respect tothe server 130, may be implemented using more than one server or via acollection of computing resources (e.g., processors, memory,communication interfaces, and the like) deployed in the cloud.

Credential management interface 137 may be configured to manage (e.g.,create and disable) access credentials provided to residents of amulti-family residential property. For example, credential managementinterface 137 may be configured to generate access credentials thatenable a resident to access one or more areas of a multi-familyresidential property, such as the resident's apartment, a workoutfacility, a pool, a parking garage, and the like. Access credentials maybe stored on a device, such as a fob, a smartcard, or a resident'ssmartphone and may be used to control (e.g., lock and unlock) an offlinedoor lock installed on a door of the resident's apartment. In anembodiment, each of the offline door locks of the multi-familyresidential property may comprise logic configured to process accesscredentials presented for authentication. For example, when a residentplaces a device having the resident's access credential in proximity toa sensor (e.g., a near field communication (NFC) device, a Bluetoothdevice, etc.) of the offline door lock, access credential may bereceived by the logic for processing, which may include applying a hashfunction or other data processing technique. If the processing issuccessful (e.g., a result of the hash function or other processingtechnique satisfies a criterion), a lock control mechanism may beengaged, thereby enabling the resident to turn a knob that controls adeadbolt or other form of locking device to either lock or unlock theoffline door lock. If the processing is not successful (e.g., the resultof the hash function or other processing technique does not satisfy thecriterion), the lock control mechanism may not be engaged. When the lockcontrol mechanism is not engaged, the knob that controls the deadboltmay spin freely (or not move at all), thereby preventing the deadboltfrom being placed in a locked state or an unlocked state. Additionalfeatures provided by an offline door lock in accordance with embodimentsare described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 12 .

In an embodiment, rather than generating access credentials, thecredential management interface 137 may interface with a system of athird party service provider that is configured to generate accesscredentials. In such an embodiment, the credential management interface137 may enable property management personnel and/or a resident torequest an additional access credential that may be utilized to unlockan offline door lock be generated by the system of the third partyservice provider. As a result of the request, the system of the thirdparty service provider may generate the requested access credential(assuming appropriate authentication of the request and/or requestor hasbeen performed). Where the access credential is to be utilized by a userdevice, such as a smart phone, the system of the third party may providethe newly generated access credential to the user device directly, suchas by downloading the access credential to the user device via an accesscredential management application installed on the user device, orindirectly, such via a message (e.g., a text message, e-mail message,etc.) provided to the user device that includes information that enablesthe user device to retrieve or otherwise obtain or download the newlygenerated access credential, or via another technique. In an embodiment,if an access credential that is to be disabled corresponds to an accesscredential that was generated by the system of the third party and thatis stored on a user device, such as a smart phone, the server 130 may beconfigured to interact with the system of the third party to disablesuch access credentials, such as by providing information the userdevice to disable further use of the access credential. If, however, theaccess credential is stored on a third party device 160, such as a fobor smartcard, disabling of the access credential may be accomplished viacommunication of control information to smart hub 110, as described inmore detail below.

In an embodiment, one or more databases 135 may include a credentialdatabase storing information associated with the offline door locksinstalled at the multi-family residential property. When an accesscredential for a particular offline door lock is to be generated,credential management module 137 may access the credential database toobtain information associated with the particular offline door lock, andthen use the obtained information to create access credential. Forexample, the information stored in access credential database 135 maycomprise information that may be used to generate access credentialsthat, when processed by the logic of the designated offline door lock,produce a successful result. Additionally, when new access credentialsare generated, access credential management module 137 may update one ormore records stored at the credential database (or another database),such as to record information that identifies the resident or individualaccess credential was provided to.

The one or more communication interfaces 138 may include a firstcommunication interface configured to communicatively couple server 130to smart hubs deployed within the multi-family residential property,such as smart hub 110, and may include a second communication interfaceconfigured to communicatively couple server 130 to one or morecommunication networks. First communication interface of server 130 maybe configured to communicate with smart hub 110 via Long Range (LoRa)wide area network (LoRaWAN) communication link 112 and secondcommunication interface of server 130 may be configured to communicatewith the one or more communication networks via a non-LoRaWANcommunication link, such as a Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 communication link, an Ethernet communicationlink, and the like. In an embodiment, the first communication interfacemay communicatively couple the server 130 to a LoRa gateway 136, asshown in FIG. 1 . The LoRa gateway 136 may be configured to relayinformation received from the server 130 to one or more smart hubs usingthe LoRaWAN communication link 112 and to relay information receivedfrom one or more smart hubs via the LoRaWAN communication link 112 tothe server 130. It is noted that although communication link 112 may bedescribed herein as a LoRaWAN communication link or LoRa-basedcommunication link, it should be understood that communication link 112may be a communication link within a low-power, wide area network(LPWAN) or another type of network topology utilizing low power- orLoRa-based communication links. For example, in an embodiment,communication link 112 may utilize narrowband-Internet of Things(NB-IoT) communication links, Sigfox-based communication links,Weightless communication links, and the like.

Smart hub 110 may include a first communication interface and one ormore additional communication interfaces. First communication interfacemay communicatively couple smart hub 110 to server 130 via LoRaWANcommunication link 112 and one or more additional communicationinterfaces may communicatively couple smart hub 110 to one or more smartdevices 120 via non-LoRaWAN communication links 114, such as a Wi-Ficommunication link, a ZigBee communication link, a Bluetoothcommunication link (e.g., a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communicationlink), and the like. As described in more detail below, smart hub 110may be deployed within an area of a multi-family residential property,such as an apartment, a gym, a game room, etc. and may be utilized tofacilitate remote access to, and control of, smart devices in proximityto smart hub 110.

In an embodiment, smart hub 110 may be a smart thermostat hub. Forexample, in FIG. 2 , a block diagram of a smart thermostat hub inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure is shown as asmart thermostat hub 200. As shown in FIG. 2 , smart thermostat hub 200includes a smart hub controller 210 and a heating, ventilation, and airconditioning (HVAC) controller 220. Smart hub controller 210 may includeone or more processors 212, a memory 213, communication interfaces 215,and one or more input/output (I/O) devices 216. Memory 213 may includeRAM, ROM, one or more HDDs, one or more SSDs, or other types of memorydevices for storing data in a persistent or non-persistent state. Memory213 may store instructions 214 that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors 212, cause the one or more processors 212 to performoperations of smart hub devices described with reference to FIGS. 1-6 .As explained with reference to smart hub 110 of FIG. 1 , communicationinterfaces 215 may include a first communication interface configured tocommunicatively couple smart hub controller 210 to a remote server(e.g., server 130 of FIG. 1 ) via a LoRaWAN communication link (e.g.,LoRaWAN communication link 112 of FIG. 1 ) and one or more additionalcommunication interfaces configured to communicatively couple smart hubcontroller 210 to one or more smart devices (e.g., the one or more smartdevices 120 of FIG. 1 ) via non-LoRaWAN communication links (e.g.,non-LoRaWAN communication links 114 of FIG. 1 ), such as Wi-Ficommunication links, ZigBee communication links, a Bluetoothcommunication links, and the like.

The one or more I/O devices 216 may be configured to facilitate userinteraction with smart hub controller 210. For example, a user (e.g.,employee, contractor, or agent of the multi-family residential property)may periodically couple an external device (e.g., third party devices160 of FIG. 1 ) to smart hub controller 210 to perform softwareupgrades, diagnostics, etc. It is noted, however, that the communicationlink between smart hub controller and server may be utilized for thesepurposes in some embodiments. The one or more I/O devices 216 mayinclude a USB interface, a serial port interface, or other type of wiredor wireless interface suitable for exchanging information with,obtaining information from, or providing information to smart hubcontrol 210. Additionally, I/O devices 216 may include a display device,which may provide information regarding an operational status of smarthub controller 210. For example, the display device may presentinformation associated with a status of various communication linksbetween smart hub controller 210 and smart devices and/or the remoteserver. It is noted that the specific I/O devices described above havebeen provided for purposes of illustration, rather than by way oflimitation and that I/O devices 216 may include other types of I/Odevices that facilitate interaction with smart hub controller 210.

As shown in FIG. 2 , HVAC controller 220 may include one or moreprocessors 222, a memory 223, and one or more I/O devices 225. Memory223 may include RAM, ROM, one or more HDDs, one or more SSDs, or othertypes of memory devices for storing data in a persistent ornon-persistent state. Memory 223 may store instructions 224 that, whenexecuted by the one or more processors 222, cause the one or moreprocessors 222 to perform operations for modifying an ambient setting ofan environment, such as heating or cooling an apartment of amulti-family residential property to a desired temperature. One or moreI/O devices 225 may include buttons, display devices, a touch screen,speakers, microphones, and/or other devices that facilitate interactionwith HVAC controller 220. For example, a user may interact with the oneor more I/O devices 225 to adjust a temperature of the thermostat. Inresponse to such interaction, HVAC controller 220 may initiateoperations to heat or cool an ambient environment specified by the userinteraction. As shown in FIG. 2 , one or more I/O devices 225 may alsoinclude measurement devices 226, such as a temperature sensor, which maybe used to determine whether the temperature of the ambient environmentis within a threshold tolerance (e.g., 0.5 degree, 1 degree, 2 degrees,etc.) of the target temperature specified by the user interaction.

Referring to FIG. 3 , a block diagram of another smart hub in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure is shown as a smart hub 300.As shown in FIG. 3 , smart hub 300 includes smart hub controller 210,one or more processors 212, memory 213, instructions 214, communicationinterfaces 215, and I/O devices 216 described above with reference toFIG. 2 . However, smart hub 300 of FIG. 3 also includes power interface302. Power interface 302 may comprise one or more components (e.g., aplug configured to interface with a power outlet, a power couplingconfigured to couple smart hub 300 to a power source via electricalwiring of a structure, a battery interface, and the like) configured toprovide operational power to smart hub 300. Therefore, as compared tosmart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 , smart hub 300 of FIG. 3 illustratesan embodiment of smart hub as standalone device.

It is noted that, as compared to smart hub 300 of FIG. 3 , smartthermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 may provide several advantages formulti-family residential properties, such as Class B and C properties inparticular. For example, a common problem when deploying newtechnologies in Class B and C properties is the lack of necessaryinfrastructure needed to support the new technology. To install thestandalone smart hub illustrated in FIG. 3 , an electrician would needto find or create a suitable source for tapping into existing electricalwiring of an apartment in order to hard wire smart hub 300 into theapartment's electrical power infrastructure. This may include hardwiringsmart hub 300 to electrical wiring of a power outlet, which would resultin loss of an existing power outlet of the apartment. Alternatively, anelectrician may install smart hub 300 on a wall of the apartment bytapping into or splicing the existing electrical wiring of theapartment, but this option would create a significant cost if performedfor many apartments of a multi-family residential property. Anadditional option would be to plug smart hub 300 into an electricaloutlet of the apartment. This option may be problematic as the residentcould easily unplug smart hub 300 from the electrical outlet, therebypreventing operation of smart hub 300 and the various features itprovides with respect to certain smart devices of the apartment, such asmanaging and controlling an offline door lock and enhanced propertymanagement functionalities (e.g., controlling a thermostat, lightfixtures, etc.).

In contrast, smart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 is designed to beinstalled as a replacement to existing thermostats that may be presentin a multi-family residential property. Even for Class B and Class Cresidential properties, the existing thermostats would be coupled toexisting electrical wiring of the structure thereby enablinginstallation of smart thermostat hub 200 by simply removing the existingthermostat and coupling smart thermostat hub 200 to the existingelectrical wiring. Such an installation can be performed with minimaleffort and cost, thereby significantly reducing the cost to deploy smartthermostat hubs in a multi-family residential property. Additionally,because smart thermostat hub 200 may be enclosed within a singlehousing, the likelihood that a resident would tamper with or removesmart thermostat hub 200, and thereby inhibit the benefits that smartthermostat hub 200 provides with respect to security and propertymanagement functionality would be minimized. A further advantage ofsmart thermostat hub 200 is that thermostats may be centrally locatedwithin a structure for which they provide control of an HVAC system,such as a central location within an apartment of a multi-familyresidential property. This may be advantageous as it enables smart hubfunctionality to be centralized with respect to the apartment, therebyincreasing the likelihood that smart hub's one or more secondcommunication interfaces (e.g., communication interfaces for interactingwith smart devices), which may utilize communication links having shortrange communication capabilities, are within communication range ofsmart devices present in the apartment, such as an offline door lock.

Referring to FIG. 4 , a block diagram of a modular smart thermostat hubin accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure is shown asmodular smart thermostat hub 400. As shown in FIG. 4 , the modular smartthermostat hub may comprise a thermostat component 410 and a smart hubcomponent 420. Thermostat component 410 may comprise the components ofsmart thermostat hub 200 that provide control over an HVAC system of astructure, such as HVAC controller 222 (including the one or moreprocessors 222 and memory 223 storing instructions 224) and I/O devices225 (including the measurement devices 226). Smart hub component 420 mayinclude components of smart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 and/or smarthub 300 of FIG. 3 that provide the above-described improvements withrespect to security and property management through utilization of smartdevices, such as an offline door lock, a thermostat, lights fixtures,and the like. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4 , smart hubcomponent 420 may comprise smart hub controller 210 (including the oneor more processors 212 and memory 213 storing instructions 214),communication interfaces 215, and I/O devices 216.

Additionally, thermostat component 410 may comprise a smart hubinterface 412 and smart hub component 420 may comprise a thermostatinterface 422. The modular smart thermostat hub 400 may be formed bycoupling smart hub interface 412 and the thermostat interface 422, asshown at arrow 402. For example, smart hub interface 412 may compriseone or more pins and the thermostat interface 422 may comprise aconnector configured to couple the one or more pins of smart hubinterface 412. Alternatively, the thermostat interface 422 may compriseone or more pins and smart hub interface 412 may comprise a connectorconfigured to couple the one or more pins of the thermostat interface422. It is noted that although smart hub interface 412 and thethermostat interface 422 have been described as being coupled via one ormore pins and a connector, this exemplary technique for interfacingsmart hub component 420 and thermostat component 410 has been providedfor purposes of illustration, rather than by way of limitation and thatother techniques and components may be used to couple smart hubcomponent 420 and thermostat component 410.

As shown above, the modular smart thermostat hub 400 may compriseseparate components (e.g., thermostat component 410 and smart hub 420)that, when coupled, facilitate the operations for providing the enhancedsecurity features for managing and securing offline door locks and theimproved property management functionality, as described herein. Themodular design of the modular smart thermostat hub 400 may providevarious advantages over smart thermostat hub 200 and smart hub 300described above. For example, due to the modular design, a multi-familyresidential property may be incrementally upgraded to provide thevarious features described herein, such as installing thermostatcomponent 410 at a first point in time and then installing smart hubcomponent 420 at a second point in time that is later than the firstpoint in time. This may allow a multi-family residential property to beupgraded over time using components (e.g., thermostat component 410 andsmart hub component 420) that may be cheaper (individually) than smartthermostat hub 200, enabling the upgrades to be performed as a budget ofthe multi-family residential facility allows. The modular smartthermostat hub may also provide additional advantages regardless ofwhether the components (e.g., thermostat component 410 and smart hubcomponent 420) of the modular smart thermostat hub are installed at thesame point in time or at different points in time. For example, ifthermostat component 410 of the modular smart thermostat hub 400 fails,thermostat component 410 may be replaced without replacing smart hubcomponent 420 and if smart hub component 420 of the modular smartthermostat hub 400 fails, smart hub component 420 may be replacedwithout replacing thermostat component 410. Therefore, the cost ofmaintaining the modular smart thermostat hub 400 in an operational stateover time may be less than smart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 . It isnoted that the components of the modular smart thermostat hub 400 may beprovided within a single housing. For example, thermostat component 410may comprise a housing that includes a cavity or space within whichsmart hub component 420 may be provided. The cavity or space within thehousing may be accessible through an access panel of the housing.

It is noted that each of the different smart hub configurationsillustrated in FIGS. 2-4 , which are configured to utilize LoRa-basedcommunication links (e.g., communication link 112 of FIG. 1 ), providethe additional advantage of not requiring network infrastructure, suchas a Wi-Fi network, to be deployed in concert with the deployment of thesmart hub devices in order to facilitate operations in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. This significantly reduces thecosts to deploy the smart hubs in a multi-family residential property.However, it is noted that even in situations where such networkinfrastructure is present, the LoRa-based smart hubs illustrated inFIGS. 2-4 still provide certain advantages, as described in more detailbelow with reference to FIG. 7 .

Referring back to FIG. 1 , during operation of system 100, residents ofa multi-family residential property may be provided with accesscredentials, as described with reference to credential management module137. Access credentials may be provided to the residents via userdevices 140 or third party devices 160. Exemplary user devices 140 mayinclude a resident's smartphone, tablet computing device, smartwatch, orother electronic devices having appropriate functionality forinteracting with an offline door lock, such as functionality enablingcommunication via NFC, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Zwave, and the like. Exemplarythird party devices 160 may include fobs or smartcards provided by themulti-family residential property, such as by an employee or propertymanager associated with the multi-family residential facility.

In an embodiment, access credentials may also be provided to the userdevices 140 via a cloud-based service 152 accessible via a network 150,such as the Internet. For example, a property management entityassociated with a multi-family residential facility may provide awebsite and/or mobile application that residents may utilize to obtainaccess credentials. The website and/or the mobile application may enableresidents to interact with the cloud-based service 152 to request accesscredentials. The cloud-based service 152 may be configured to generateaccess credentials in a manner similar to the techniques described abovewith respect to credential management module 137 of server 130. Forexample, after authenticating a resident, the cloud-based service 152may generate an access credential based on information stored in adatabase, such as the credential database described above. Oncegenerated, the cloud-based service 152 may provide access credential tothe resident's user device.

As described above, generation of credentials may not requireinteraction with an offline door lock. Instead, access credential may begenerated such that when access credential is presented to the offlinedoor lock (e.g., via placing a device loaded with access credential inproximity to the offline door lock), a result (e.g., a hash value orother information) generated by the credential processing logic of theoffline door satisfies an access authorization criterion. The accessauthorization criterion may comprise a pre-determined value (e.g., apre-determined hash value or other information) or may comprise a rangeof pre-determined values. Utilizing access authorization criteriacomprised of a range of pre-determined values may facilitate variousadvantageous features of system 100.

For example, as access credentials are generated, by either thecloud-based service 152 or credential management module 137, each accesscredential may be configured to result in a different value within thepre-determined range of values of the corresponding offline door lock,and information that identifies each individual to which an accesscredential is provided may be recorded (e.g., at the credentialsdatabase or another database). The offline door lock may comprise amemory configured to log information associated with each accesscredential presented to the offline door lock, such as the resultgenerated by the processing logic of the offline door lock in responseto presentation of an access credential and timestamp informationassociated with a time when access credential was presented. The loggedinformation may also include information associated with a state of theoffline door lock at the time access credential is present. For example,the state of the offline door lock may be configurable to change betweena locked state and an unlocked state, as described above. Each time thestate of the offline door lock changes, information indicating thecurrent state of the offline door lock and the time of the state changemay be recorded in memory of the offline door lock.

The log of information recorded by the offline door lock may besubsequently retrieved to audit access of the offline door lock. Toillustrate, smart hub 110 may be configured to periodically generate andtransmit an audit log request that may be transmitted to the offlinedoor lock via a communication link provided by the one or more secondcommunication interfaces of smart hub 110. In response to the request,the offline door lock may transmit the log of information to smart hub110 via the communication link. Upon receiving the log of information,smart hub 110 may transmit the log of information to server 130 via acommunication link provided by first communication interface (e.g., theLoRaWAN communication interface) and server 130 may store the log ofinformation in the one or more database 135, such as at an access auditlog database. Smart hub 110 may be configured to preform retrieval ofthe log of information from the offline door lock and transmission ofthe log of information to server 130 according to scheduling informationprovided by server 130 via LoRaWAN communication link. For example, thedata transmission bandwidth provided by LoRaWAN communication links islower than other types of wireless communication links, such as Wi-Fi,and therefore, transmission of the log of information may takeappreciable time. By scheduling transmission of the log of informationto server 130 at specific times, which may correspond to off-peak hours(e.g., overnight), interference with other smart hubs of a multi-familyresidential property may be minimized, which may ensure more reliablecommunication with smart hubs of the multi-family residential propertyin an emergency or priority situation, such as if a credential for anoffline door lock needs to be disabled.

Additionally or alternatively, server 130 may transmit controlinformation to smart hub 110, where the control information comprisesinformation that identifies the offline door lock and instructs smarthub 110 to obtain at least a portion of the log of information (e.g.,information associated with all access credentials presented to theoffline door lock, invalid (denied) access credentials presented to theoffline door lock, valid access credentials presented to the offlinedoor lock; information associated with changes in the state (actuationevents) of the offline door lock; a current state of the offline doorlock; and the like), where the portion of the log of information may bespecified temporally (e.g., a portion of the log informationcorresponding to a particular period of time, such as a specified hour,range of hours, day, number of days, a week, and the like), by eventtype (e.g., state changes, received valid and/or invalid accesscredentials, disablement of access credentials, authorization of newaccess credentials, and the like), or both temporally and by event type(e.g., occurrences of one or more particular event types during one ormore defined periods of time). It is noted that temporal portions of theretrieved log information may include consecutive time units, such asportions of the log information captured during a consecutive number ofhours, days, weeks, and the like. Additionally, the temporal portions ofthe retrieved log information may include disjoint time units, such asportions of the log information captured on a first day in a week and athird day of the week, a first number of hours in the morning of aparticular day and a second number of hours during the evening of theparticular day or another day, and the like. The retrieved access loginformation may include information that identifies particular accesscredentials associated the retrieved portion(s) of the informationlogged by the offline door lock. The ability to probe the offline doorlock via control information transmitted by server 130 may improve thesecurity of a multi-family residential property. For example, if aresident is unsure of whether his/her apartment was locked when theyleft, the resident may contact property management personnel to inquireabout the status of the offline door lock, and the property managementpersonnel may utilize a property management platform provided by server130 to transmit control information to smart hub 110 associated with theresident's apartment. In this example, the control information mayidentify the offline door lock associated with the resident's apartmentand may specify that smart hub 110 is to retrieve only the currentstatus of the offline door lock (e.g., whether the offline door lock isin the locked state or the unlocked state), rather than the entire logof information stored at memory of the offline door lock. By onlyretrieving the current state of the offline door lock, the requestedinformation may be returned to server 130 more quickly. If the status ofthe offline door lock is determined to be unlocked, the propertymanagement personnel may visit the resident's apartment and secure theoffline door lock (e.g., place the offline door lock in the lockedstate).

In an embodiment, a resident may initiate a status check of the offlinedoor lock via cloud-based service 152. For example, the resident mayaccess the website or mobile application providing a graphical userinterface that facilitates interaction with the cloud-based service 152.The graphical user interface may provide functionality that enables theresident to view the log of information associated with the offline doorlock of the resident's apartment, as well as initiate a status checkrequest to determine a current state of the offline door lock. When astatus check request is initiated via the graphical user interfaceprovided by the website or mobile application, the cloud-based service152 may initiate transmission of a status check request message toserver 130 via the network 150. The status check request message mayinclude information identifying the offline door lock for which thestatus check has been request, such as information that identifies theresident, the resident's apartment number, an offline door lockidentifier corresponding to the offline door lock of the resident'sapartment, or other information that may be used to identify smart hublocated at the resident's apartment. Upon receiving the status checkrequest message, server 130 may obtain information indicating thecurrent status of the offline door lock of the resident's apartment bytransmitting control information to smart hub located at the resident'sapartment via a LoRaWAN communication link, as described above.

Upon receiving the status information from smart hub, server 130 mayprovide the status information to the cloud-based service 152, which maypresent information associated with the current status of the offlinedoor lock to the resident via the graphical user interface. The statusinformation may be provided from server 130 to the cloud-based service152 in a variety of ways. For example, server 130 may store the statusinformation at the access audit log database and then transmit a messageto the cloud-based service 152 that indicates the status check requestis complete. The cloud-based service 152 may then retrieve the statusinformation from the access audit log database for presentation to theresident via the graphical user interface. Additionally oralternatively, server 130 may include information that indicates thecurrent status of the offline door lock in the response message, whicheliminates the need for the cloud-based service 152 to access the accessaudit log database.

If the status of the offline door lock is determined to be unlocked, theresident may contact property management personnel to request that theyvisit the resident's apartment and secure the offline door lock (e.g.,place the offline door lock in the locked state). The resident maycontact the property management personnel to request that the resident'soffline door lock be secured via a phone call, a text message (e.g., atext message sent to a number associated with the multi-familyresidential property for reporting maintenance requests, door securityverification requests, and the like), an e-mail message, an instantmessage (e.g., an instant message created using functionality of thegraphical user interface) provided to a device associated with propertymanagement personnel, or another method. In an embodiment, aconfirmation notification may be provided to the resident once theoffline door lock has been secured by the property management personnel.

It is noted that smart hub 110 may also be configured to maintain one ormore activity logs, which may be periodically retrieved, in whole or inpart, via the LoRa-based communication link 112 and LoRa-gateway 136 bythe property management platform. Such activity logs may includeinformation associated with various smart devices, such as informationthat provides historical information associated with how a resident'sthermostat is configured (e.g., preferred temperatures, etc.), whethervarious smart devices, such as lights, were left on for prolongedperiods of time, etc. Such information may provide insights into thepreferences of the residents of a multi-family residential property,which may be used to automatically customize other experiences of theresident. For example, a resident may gain access to a particular areaof the multi-family residential property, such as a game room, a mediaroom, and the like, by presenting the resident's access credential. Suchaccess may be detected (e.g., via periodic probing of offline door locksassociated with common areas of the multi-family residential property byone or more smart hubs associated with the common areas or via automatictransmission of access information to the one or more smart hubs by theoffline door lock via a non-LoRa-based communication link) and utilizedto configure the particular area to perceived preferences of theresident (e.g., a preferred temperature, etc.), where the perceivedpreferences are derived from the activity log maintained by the smarthub associated with the resident's apartment.

As briefly described above, server 130 may provide a property managementplatform that may be utilized to manage various aspects of amulti-family residential property. The property management platform mayprovide one or more graphical user interfaces that facilitateinteraction with smart hubs installed at apartments of the multi-familyresidential property. To illustrate, the property management platform(e.g., server 130 or a cloud-based implementation of the functionalityprovided by server 130) may provide a graphical user interface thatenables access credentials associated with an offline door lock to bedisabled remotely. Via this graphical user interface, a propertymanagement user may view access credentials authorized for a particularoffline door lock and select one or more access credentials that are tobe disabled. Upon confirming which access credential(s) is to bedisabled, server 130 may identify one or more smart hubs of themulti-family residential property associated with offline door locks forwhich the access credential(s) has been authorized (e.g., may be used tolock or unlock the offline door lock(s)), and may transmit controlinformation to the identified smart hubs. For each of the identifiedsmart hubs, the control information may identify the offline door lockand the access credential(s) that is to be disabled for the identifiedoffline door lock.

As explained above, control information provided to a smart hub mayinclude information that identifies one or more smart devices to whichthe control information pertains and information associated with one ormore actions or parameters for modifying a configuration of the one ormore smart devices. Continuing with this example, upon receiving thecontrol information from server 130, smart hub(s) may identify one ormore smart devices (e.g., one or more offline door locks) and may deriveone or more commands for controlling the one or more identified smartdevices in accordance with the control information, such as commands todisable access credentials specified in the control information at theidentified offline door lock. Having determined the one or more smartdevices to which the received control information pertains and derivingappropriate commands for controlling the one or more smart devices inaccordance with the control information, smart hub(s) may initiatetransmission of the derived commands to the smart devices viacommunication links provided by second communication interface (e.g.,the non-LoRaWAN communication interface), and the smart devices mayexecute the commands. For example, upon receiving the commands, anoffline door lock may disable the identified access credentials. In anembodiment, the offline door lock may disable an access credential byconfiguring a flag associated with the access authorization criteriaused by the processing logic of the offline door lock to authenticatepresented access credentials. A first value of the flag may indicateaccess credential is authorized to configure the offline door lock tothe locked state and the unlocked state and a second flag value mayindicate that access credential has been disabled. Once disabled, accesscredential may not be used to configure the offline door lock to theunlocked state or the locked state. In an embodiment, offline door locksmay comprise an automatic locking mechanism that automaticallyconfigures the offline door lock to the locked state when a disableaccess credential is present. This may further enhance security since anoffline lock that is in the unlocked state may be automaticallytransitioned to the locked state when a disable access credential ispresented.

In addition to remotely disabling access credentials, propertymanagement personnel may manually disable access credentials associatedwith offline door locks of system 100, such as by coupling an externaldevice (e.g., a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device,etc.) to the offline door lock and then using an application or utilityprovided by the external device to manage access credentials. In anembodiment, server 130 may be configured such that access credentialsthat have been disabled may not be re-enabled via smart hub 110. In thisembodiment, a disable access credential may only be re-enabled bycoupling the external device to the offline door lock, as describedabove. In an embodiment, disable access credentials may be re-enabledvia control information provided to smart hub 110 by server 130.However, if such capability is provided, system 100 may be configured torequire one or more users to authorize the re-enablement of accesscredential. For example, a manager, supervisor, or other member ofproperty management personnel may need to provide a password in order tore-enable access credential via server 130 and smart hub 110. As anotherexample, remotely re-enabling an access credential via server 130 andsmart hub 110 may require authorization from a member of the propertymanagement personnel and the resident associated with the offline doorlock where access credential is disabled. Requiring the resident toparticipate in the authorization to remotely enable an access credentialmay prevent a nefarious individual from gaining entry into theresident's apartment.

In an embodiment, access credentials may also be created (e.g., byeither the credential management interface 130 or the system of thethird party) that comprise information designed to disable anotheraccess credential when used. For example, suppose that a first accesscredential is to be disabled. A second access credential may begenerated and configured to include information that is configured todisable the first access credential when the second access credential ispresented to a particular offline door lock. The information fordisabling the first access credential may include information thatidentifies the first access credential and other information thatspecifies an operation associated with the first access credential, suchas to disable the first access credential. When the second accesscredential is presented to the offline door lock, the information fordisabling the first access credential may be detected by the offlinedoor lock in addition to detecting the second access credential, therebyenabling the second access credential to be used to change a stat of theoffline door lock while also disabling the first access credential. Itis noted that such techniques may be utilized to disable multiple accesscredentials, rather than a single access credential, and may also beutilized to disable one or more access credentials at multiple differentoffline door locks (e.g., by presenting the second access credentialcarrying the information for disabling the first access credential atmultiple offline door locks where the first access credential has beenpreviously authorized for use). Additionally, access credentialscarrying information configured to disable one or more other accesscredentials may be presented to offline door locks via a user device(e.g., a smartphone, etc.) or via a third party device (e.g., a fob, asmartcard, etc.).

In addition to providing functionality for managing access credential,the property management platform provided by server 130 may also providegraphical user interfaces and features that facilitate intelligentmanagement of a multi-family residential property. For example, the oneor more database 135 may include a resident database that includesinformation associated with vacant apartments of the multi-familyresidential property, move-in dates associated with new residents, andmove-out dates associated with departing residents. The propertymanagement platform may utilize this information to control and automatevarious property management tasks. For example, the property managementplatform may periodically (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) analyzethe resident databased to identify move out dates. When a move out dateoccurs, the property management platform may transmit controlinformation to a smart hub 110 of the vacated apartment via the firstcommunication link (e.g., LoRaWAN communication link) to place varioussmart devices of the apartment into a vacant mode. To illustrate, thecontrol information may identify the thermostat (e.g., the thermostat ofsmart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 or thermostat component 410 of FIG. 4) of the vacated apartment and may include parameters specifying atemperature that the thermostat should be configured to while vacant.Smart hub 110 may receive the control information, detect that thecontrol information is associated with the thermostat (e.g., based ondevice identification information included in the control information,and transmit one or more commands to the thermostat via the secondcommunication link (e.g., a non-LoRaWAN communication link) to modifyone or more operational settings of the thermostat in accordance withthe control information. The one or more operational settings control atleast one of a temperature setting of the thermostat and an operatingmode of the thermostat, the operating mode configurable to changebetween a heating mode, a cooling mode, and an off mode (e.g., to turnthe thermostat off).

In an embodiment, the control information may include schedulinginformation that specifies periods of time during which the thermostatis to be placed in a particular operating mode. For example, thethermostat scheduling information may specify first information thatspecifies the thermostat is to be configured to a first operating mode(e.g., the heating mode, the cooling mode, or the off mode) for a firstperiod of time and second information that specifies the thermostat isto be configured to a second operating mode (e.g., the heating mode, thecooling mode, or the off mode) that is different from the firstoperating mode for a second period of time. The first information may beutilized to at least partially heat the vacant apartment during at leasta portion of the night during winter months or cool the apartment duringat least apportion of the day during summer months. The particulartemperatures associated with the first information and the secondinformation may be determined to mitigate potential damage caused byseasonal temperatures, such as to prevent freezing of water pipes, etc.or prevent damage to paint or other potentially heat sensitive surfacesof the apartment. The second information may configure the thermostat tothe off mode to minimize the operating costs associated with the vacantapartment. In an embodiment, the thermostat scheduling information maybe dynamically generated. For example, the property management platformmay be configured to receive weather data (e.g., via an RSS feed or fromanother third party source of weather information), and may generatecommands to control the configuration of the thermostat based on theweather information, such as to place the thermostat in the heating modeif the weather data indicates severely cold temperatures are expected.As the weather data changes, updates thermostat configurationinformation may be generated and provided to the thermostat via thesmart hub 110, as described herein.

As another example, the control information may identify one or moresmart light fixtures of the vacated apartment and may includeinformation that indicates the light fixtures are to be turned off.Smart hub 110 may receive the control information, detect that thecontrol information is associated with the one or more smart lightfixtures, and transmit one or more commands to the one or more smartlight fixtures via the second communication link (e.g., the non-LoRaWANcommunication link) to turn the one or more smart light fixtures off.Alternatively, the control information may specify that one or more ofthe smart light fixtures of the vacant apartment are to be, at leastperiodically, turned on. In such instances, smart hub 110 may transmitadditional commands to turn on any smart light fixtures based on thecontrol information, which may include scheduling information thatindicates times and dates for turning each applicable light fixture onand/or off.

By using server 130 and smart hub 110 to place vacated apartments intothe vacant mode, operating costs associated with the multi-familyresidential property may be significantly reduced. For example, if athermostat in a vacated apartment is configured to cool the vacatedapartment to a low temperature, the thermostat may remain configured inthat state until a new resident moves into the apartment. Operating anHVAC system to cool a vacant apartment for a potentially long period oftime may result in significant costs, which are avoided using theabove-described techniques.

To illustrate, suppose that a resident prefers a “cold” apartment andconfigures the thermostat to maintain the apartment at a particulartemperature (e.g., <75° F.). If, during a walkthrough performed inconnection with the resident vacating the apartment, the thermostatsetting is not noticed, the apartment may continue to be cooled inaccordance with the settings configured by the resident, thusmaintaining the now vacated apartment at the temperature preferred bythe former resident. This may cause the property owner (or propertymanagement company) to incur significant unnecessary costs associatedwith cooling a vacant apartment. However, as described herein, aproperty management platform in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure may automatically detect (e.g., based on informationstored in the one or more databases 135) the apartment has been vacatedand via the smart hub 110, may configured the thermostat to the vacantmode, which configures the thermostat's temperature setting to maintainthe vacant apartment at a temperature specified by the propertymanagement company. This temperature may be higher than temperaturestypically configured by residents, such as 80° F. Thus, while theapartment is vacant, the thermostat may maintain the apartment at ahigher temperature, resulting in reduced costs during the duration ofthe vacancy. In an embodiment, the vacant mode may further be configuredto turn the thermostat off, at least periodically, such that the HVACsystem is not operated at all, which may further reduce the costsassociated with the vacant apartment.

Similarly, the above-described techniques for placing a vacant apartmentinto vacant mode may also eliminate costs associated with light fixturesbeing allowed to remain on in a vacant apartment. It is noted that inaddition to facilitating control of smart devices within apartments of amulti-family residential property, the property management platform mayalso be utilized to control smart devices associated with public areasof a multi-family residential property, such as gyms, conference rooms,game rooms, parking lots/garages, walking paths, and other common spacesmaintained by the property management personnel. For example, theabove-described techniques may be utilized to transmit controlinformation to smart hubs communicatively coupled to smart lightfixtures and/or thermostats associated with such areas of themulti-family residential property to minimize power consumption andassociated costs, such as turning the smart light fixtures off at aparticular time (e.g., when a common space is deemed closed), turningthe smart light fixtures on at a particular time, such as to light uppathways at night, or increasing the temperature of thermostats at aparticular time (e.g., when the leasing office or other area is closed).Further, the property management platform may utilize theabove-described techniques to verify whether any offline door locksassociated with the areas of the multi-family residential propertymaintained by the property management personnel were left unlocked, andtransmit a notification to a member of the property management if anyoffline door locks are detected to be in the unlocked state, such as anoffline door lock associated with the leasing office.

From the foregoing, it is to be appreciated that the various devicesillustrated in FIG. 1 , as well as they features they provide, representa significant improvement to technologies for managing aspects of amulti-family residential property. For example, system 100 utilizesLoRaWAN communication links to provide backhaul communication between acentral location, such as a leasing office, and smart hubs located atthe various apartments of the multi-family residential property, system100 does not require a mesh network or Wi-Fi network to be deployed.This significantly reduces the costs associated with deploying anintelligent property management system, such as system 100 describedabove, and makes it feasible to deploy intelligent property managementsystems in certain types of multi-family residential properties forwhich previous technologies requiring mesh or Wi-Fi networks were costprohibitive, such as Class B and Class C properties. System 100 alsoprovides features that improve the security of multi-family residentialproperties, such as by enabling credentials for offline door locks to beremotely disabled via smart hub 110 and allowing offline door locks tobe probed for information associated with a state of the offline doorlock or to obtain access log information. Additionally, system 100provides features that improve property management capabilities, such asby automatically placing vacant apartments into a vacant mode designedto improve the energy efficiency and reduce the operating costs of themulti-family residential property.

Referring to FIG. 5 , a block diagram illustrating aspects of anintelligent property management system configured in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure is shown. As shown in FIG. 5 , abuilding 500 of a multi-family residential property may include aplurality of apartments 510, 520, 530, 540. The apartments 510, 520,530, 540 may include smart hubs 512, 522, 532, 542, respectively, whichmay comprise smart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 , smart hub 300 of FIG.3 , or the modular smart thermostat hub 400 of FIG. 4 . Additionally,each of the apartments 510, 520, 530, 540 may include an offline doorlock, illustrated in FIG. 5 as offline door locks 514, 524, 534, 544.Each of smart hubs 512, 522, 532, 542 may communicate with server 130via a first communication link (e.g., a LoRaWAN communication link) andmay communicate with one or more smart devices, such as thermostat orthe offline door locks 514, 524, 534, 544, via a second communicationlink (e.g., a non-LoRaWAN communication link).

As described above, smart hubs 514, 524, 534, 544 may be utilized tocontrol various smart devices present within the respective apartmentsof the building 500. For example, suppose that a resident of theapartment 510 left for work and was not sure whether he locked theoffline door lock 514 on his way out. As described above with referenceto FIG. 1 , the resident may utilize a user device 140, such as asmartphone, to access a cloud-based service (e.g., the cloud-basedservice 152 of FIG. 1 ) to obtain the current status of the offline doorlock 514. If the resident discovers that he did forget to lock theoffline door lock 514, the resident may request that property managementpersonnel visit the apartment 510 and secure (e.g., lock) the offlinedoor lock 514. Once secured, the resident may be notified.

As another example, suppose that two residents live in apartment 530 andeach of the residents have an access credential loaded onto a thirdparty device 160, such as a fob or smartcard. If one of the residentsliving in apartment 530 becomes violent toward the other resident, itmay be necessary to prevent the aggressor resident from gaining accessto apartment 530. As described above, previous systems that utilizedoffline door locks would require property management personnel tophysically visit the apartment 530 and connect an external device to theoffline door lock 534 in order to disable the aggressors accesscredential. Depending on the urgency with which the credential needs tobe disabled, the property management personnel may not arrive in time toprevent the aggressor resident from gaining entry to the apartment 530and causing harm to the other resident. However, utilizing the propertymanagement platform provided by server 130, property managementpersonnel may remotely disable the aggressor resident's accesscredential by transmitting control information to smart hub 532, wherethe control information causes smart hub 532 to communicate with theoffline door lock 534 to disable access credential. As can beappreciated, this functionality enables access credentials to bedisabled quickly, significantly enhancing the security services that maybe provided to the residents of the multi-family residential property.

In yet another example, suppose that a resident of apartment 520 hasmoved out and apartment 520 is now vacant. As described above, theproperty management platform provided by server 130 may detect thestatus of the apartment 520 is now vacant and may automatically transmitcontrol information to smart hub 522 to place various smart devices intovacant mode. For example, based on the control information, smart hub522 may turn off one or more smart lights 526 within the apartment 520and may configure a thermostat (not shown in FIG. 5 ) of the apartment520 to a predetermined temperature. This capability may significantlyreduce the power consumption of the multi-family residential facility,resulting in significant cost savings. Additionally, the controlinformation provided to smart hub 522 may instruct smart hub 522 tocommunicate with the offline door lock 524 to disable the formerresident's access credentials. This may prevent the former resident orsomeone possessing the former resident's access credentials from gainingunauthorized access to the apartment after resident has moved out.

Now suppose that apartment 540 is currently vacant, but a new residentis scheduled to move in soon. On the day the new resident is to move in,the property management platform provided by server 130 may transmitcontrol information to smart hub 542 that instructs smart hub 452 toadjust a temperature setting of the thermostat for the apartment 540 inadvance of the resident moving in. For example, the control informationmay be configured to cause the thermostat to start cooling the apartmentan hour ahead of a scheduled move in time or at some pre-determined timeof day so that the apartment is cooler (relative to the vacant mode)when the resident moves in.

Referring to FIG. 6 , a block diagram illustrating additional aspects ofan intelligent property management system configured in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure is shown. As shown in FIG. 6 , amulti-family residential property 610 may include a plurality ofbuildings 611, 612, 613, 614, 615, 616, 617, 618, each building havingone or more floors and each floor having at least one apartment. Asdescribed an illustrated with respect to FIG. 5 , each of the apartmentsmay include a smart hub (e.g., smart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 ,smart hub 300 of FIG. 3 , or the modular smart thermostat hub 400 ofFIG. 4 ), an offline door lock, and other smart devices. Each of smarthubs associated with the apartments of the buildings 611, 612, 613, 614,615, 616, 617, 618 may communicate with a server providing a managementplatform that provides various advantageous features for managing amulti-family residential property.

As illustrated in FIG. 6 , intelligent property management systems inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure may include a oneor more LoRa gateways 620 in conjunction with server 130. The one ormore LoRa gateways 620 may be configured to communicatively couple oneor more smart hubs to server 130 and/or to provide overlapping coverageareas for failover purposes. For example, the communication capabilitiesof LoRa-based communication links may degrade in some environments orconditions, such as environments with many buildings. In such cases,providing the one or more LoRa gateways 620 may ensure that all smarthubs deployed in a multi-family residential property are communicativelycoupled to server 130. In an embodiment, the LoRa gateway(s) 620 may becommunicatively coupled to server 130 via a wired communication link(e.g., an Ethernet communication link) or wireless communication link(e.g., a hotspot or other wireless access point providing the LoRagateway with network-based access to server 130). In an embodiment,utilizing the one or more LoRa gateways 620 may enable server 130 to belocated at a location other than the multi-family residential property,such as at a corporate office of an entity that owns the multi-familyresidential property or at another location, or to enable thefunctionality provided by the server 130 to be access from the cloud. Insuch instances, access to the property management platform provided byserver 130 may be facilitated through a web-based interface, which maybe provided by the cloud-based service 152 of FIG. 1 .

Referring to FIG. 7 , a block diagram illustrating additional aspects ofan intelligent property management system configured in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure is shown. As shown in FIG. 7 , amulti-family residential property 700 may include a plurality ofbuildings 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 760, each building having one or morefloors and each floor having at least one apartment. As described anillustrated with respect to FIG. 5 , each of the apartments may includea smart hub (e.g., smart thermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 , smart hub 300 ofFIG. 3 , or the modular smart thermostat hub 400 of FIG. 4 ), an offlinedoor lock, and other smart devices. Each of smart hubs associated withthe apartments of the buildings 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 760 maycommunicate with server 130, which provides a property managementplatform that provides various features for managing a multi-familyresidential property, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1-4 .

Although not wired and/or wireless communication infrastructure, such asWi-Fi is not necessary to facilitate operation of intelligent propertymanagement systems in accordance with the embodiments disclosed herein,such features may provide additional capabilities when present. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 7 , a plurality of access points 712,722, 732, 742, 752, 762 may be communicatively coupled to server 130 viawired communication links (e.g., Ethernet, etc.) and/or wirelesscommunication links (e.g., Wi-Fi communication links). The bandwidthcapabilities provided by the access points 712, 722, 732, 742, 752, 762may enable the intelligent property management system to provide videocapabilities. For example, in FIG. 7 , each of the buildings 710, 720,730, 740, 750, 760 may be equipped with one or more video cameras 714,724, 734, 742, 752, 762, respectively. The video cameras 714, 724, 734,742, 752, 762 may be communicatively coupled to server 130 via theaccess points 712, 722, 732, 742, 752, 762 to facilitate videomonitoring of areas of the multi-family residential property 700.

Referring to FIG. 8 , a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary methodfor securing smart devices within an apartment of a multi-familyresidential property in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure is shown as method 800. In an embodiment, steps of the method800 may be stored as instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations forsecuring smart devices within an apartment of a multi-family residentialproperty, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7 . It is notedthat the method 800 may be performed by smart hub 110 of FIG. 1 , smartthermostat hub 200 of FIG. 2 , smart hub 300 of FIG. 3 , and the modularsmart thermostat hub 400 of FIG. 4 .

As shown in FIG. 8 , the method 800 may include, at step 810, receiving,by one or more processors of a smart thermostat hub, control informationassociated with an offline door lock from a property management platformvia a LoRa-based communication link where the control informationidentifies one or more access credentials to be disabled with respect tothe offline door lock. At a step 820, the method 800 may includegenerating, by the one or more processors of smart thermostat hub, acommand configured to disable the one or more access credentialsidentified in the control information. In a step 830, the method 800 mayinclude transmitting, by the one or more processors, the command to theoffline door lock via a non-LoRa-based communication link. As describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1-7 , by using a smart thermostat hub inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the method 800may provide improved security for residents of a multi-familyresidential property, such as by facilitating access credentials for anoffline door lock to be disabled remotely, rather than requiringproperty management personnel to visit the apartment and couple anexternal device to the offline door lock.

It is noted that the concepts of method 800 may further facilitateadditional advantageous operations. For example, instead of receivingcontrol information for disabling access credentials of the offline doorlock, smart thermostat hub may receive control information configured tocontrol operations of a thermostat, a light fixture, or another smartdevice present in an apartment where smart thermostat hub is located, ormay receive control information configured to retrieve statusinformation from a memory of the offline door lock. In a manner similarto steps 810 and 820, this additional control information may bereceived via a LoRa-based communication link and may cause smartthermostat hub to generate one or more commands for controllingoperation of smart devices identified by the control information, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1-7 . After the one or morecommands associated with the additional control information aregenerated, the smart thermostat hub may transmit the one or moreadditional commands to the appropriate smart devices via anon-LoRa-based communication link. Utilizing a smart thermostat hub andLoRa-based communication links to provide control information to smartdevices may reduce the cost of deploying an intelligent propertymanagement system, such as the intelligent property management systemdescribed above with reference to FIG. 1 . In aspects, the method 800may also be utilized to create access credentials for one or moreoffline door locks, remotely unlock an offline door lock, or otheroperations described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7 .

Referring to FIG. 9 , a flow diagram of an exemplary method forretrieving access log data from an offline door lock is shown as amethod 900. In an embodiment, steps of the method 900 may be stored asinstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to perform operations for securing smart deviceswithin an apartment of a multi-family residential property, as describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1-7 . It is noted that the method 900 maybe performed by smart hub 110 of FIG. 1 , smart thermostat hub 200 ofFIG. 2 , smart hub 300 of FIG. 3 , and the modular smart thermostat hub400 of FIG. 4 .

At step 910, the method 900 includes transmitting, by one or moreprocessors of a smart thermostat hub, an access log request to anoffline door lock via a non-LoRa-based communication link. The accesslog request may be configured to retrieve at least a portion of accesslog information stored at a memory of the offline door lock. Asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 1 , smart thermostat hub may beconfigured to transmit the access log request to the offline door lockin response to control information received from a property managementplatform (e.g., the property management platform provided by server 130of FIGS. 1, 5, 6, and 7 ) and the control information may specify theportion of the access log to be retrieved. At step 920, the method 900may include receiving, by the one or more processors of smart thermostathub, at least the portion of the access log information from a lockprocessor of the offline door lock via the non-LoRa-based communicationlink and at step 930, the method 900 may include transmitting, by theone or more processors of smart thermostat hub, at least the portion ofthe access log information to the property management platform via aLoRa-based communication link. As described above, transmission of atleast the portion of the access log information to the propertymanagement platform may be performed periodically, and may also beperformed based on scheduling information received from the propertymanagement platform.

It is noted that operations of the method 900 may improve the securityof residents of a multi-family residential property. For example, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 , if residents are notsure they locked the door to their apartment after they leave, theresidents may access a cloud-based service (e.g., the cloud-basedservice 152 of FIG. 1 ) to determine whether they locked the door ornot. The cloud-based service may be configured to communicate with theproperty management platform to initiate operations of the method 900 toobtain a current status of the offline door lock and provide that statusto the resident(s). If the door was found to be unlocked, the residentmay contact the property management office to request that propertymanagement personnel visit the apartment and secure the offline doorlock.

Referring to FIG. 10 , a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary methodfor securing an offline door lock of an apartment of a multi-familyresidential property in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure is shown as method 1000. In an embodiment, steps of themethod 1000 may be stored as instructions that, when executed by one ormore processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operationsfor securing an offline door lock of an apartment of a multi-familyresidential property, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1-5 .In an embodiment, the method 1000 may be performed by an offline doorlock, such as the offline door lock 1200 of FIG. 12 .

The method 1000 may include, at step 1010, receiving, by a lockprocessor of an offline door lock, a command via a non-LoRa-basedcommunication link. As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 ,as well as FIG. 8 , the command may be received from a smart thermostathub, and may include information for disabling one or more accesscredentials associated with the offline door lock. At step 1020, themethod 1000 may include modifying, by the lock processor, accesscredential validation information stored at a memory of the offline doorlock to disable the one or more access credentials based on the command.As disclosed herein, modifying access credential validation informationmay include deleting a portion of access credential validationinformation corresponding to the one or more access credentialsidentified in the control information. Additionally or alternatively,modifying access credential validation information may includeconfiguring one or more flags corresponding to the one or more accesscredentials identified in the control information to have a particularflag value. The one or more flags may be stored with access credentialvalidation information and the particular flag value may indicate acorresponding access credential is disabled.

At step 1030, the method 1000 may include receiving, by a sensor of theoffline door lock, access credential information from a credentialdevice placed in proximity to the sensor. As described herein, thecredential device may include a smartphone, a fob, a smartcard oranother type of device provided with an access credential. At step 1040,the method 100 may include determining, by the lock processor, avalidity of access credential information based on whether accesscredential validation information indicates access credentialinformation is valid or disabled and at step 1050, the method 1000 mayinclude engaging, in response to a determination that access credentialis valid, a locking mechanism of the offline door lock such that thelocking mechanism is configurable to change between locked state and anunlocked state. It is noted that the method 1000 may providefunctionality that is complimentary to the functionality provided by themethod 800. Additionally, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1-6, providing an intelligent property management system that includes asmart thermostat hub to enable access credentials for offline locks tobe remotely disabled in accordance with the method 1000 providesimproved security for residents of a multi-family residential property,such as by facilitating access credentials for an offline door lock tobe disabled remotely, rather than requiring property managementpersonnel to visit the apartment and couple an external device to theoffline door lock. Further, it is noted that although the method 1000 isdescribed as providing functionality for disabling access credentials,the method 1000 may also be utilized to provide other functionalitydescribed herein with respect to operations of an offline door lock inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure, such as authorize newcredentials.

Referring to FIG. 11 , a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary methodfor securing an offline door lock of an apartment of a multi-familyresidential property in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure is shown as method 1100. In an embodiment, steps of themethod 1100 may be stored as instructions that, when executed by one ormore processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operationsfor securing an offline door lock of an apartment of a multi-familyresidential property, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5. In an embodiment, the method 1100 may be performed by an offline doorlock, such as the offline door lock 1200 of FIG. 12 .

At step 1110, the method 1100 may include storing, by a lock processorof an offline door lock, access log information at a memory of theoffline door lock. As disclosed herein, the access log may compriseaccess credential information associated with access credentialspresented to the sensor and/or status information identifying changes toa state of a locking mechanism of the offline door lock. Additionally,the access log information may comprise time stamps associated with thetime that particular information was recorded to the access log. At step1120, the method 100 may include receiving, by the lock processor, anaccess log request via a non-LoRa-based communication link. At step1130, the method 1100 may include transmitting, by the lock processor,at least the portion of the access log information to a smart thermostathub via the non-LoRa-based communication link. As described above withrespect to FIGS. 1 and 5 , the access log request may be received by thelock processor from a smart thermostat hub that is in communication witha property management platform, and the request for access loginformation may ultimately be provided to the property managementplatform or another destination, such as a graphical user interfaceassociated with the cloud-based service 152 of FIG. 1 .

It is noted that the method 1100 provides functionality that iscomplimentary to, and may be used on coordination with, thefunctionality provided by the method 900. For example, as describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 , if residents are not sure theylocked the door to their apartment after they leave, the residents mayaccess a cloud-based service (e.g., the cloud-based service 152 of FIG.1 ) to determine whether they locked the door or not. The cloud-basedservice may be configured to communicate with the property managementplatform to initiate operations of the method 900 to obtain a currentstatus of the offline door lock and provide that status to theresident(s). If the door was found to be unlocked, the resident maycontact the property management office to request that propertymanagement personnel visit the apartment and secure the offline doorlock. Thus, it is to be appreciated that the operations of the method1100, individually or in coordination with other processes, such as themethod 900 described with reference to FIG. 9 , may improve the securityof residents of a multi-family residential property.

Referring to FIG. 12 , a block diagram illustrating exemplary featuresof an offline door lock configured in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure is shown as an offline door lock 1200. As shown inFIG. 12 , the offline door lock 1200 may include a processor 1210, asensor 1212, a communication interface 1214, a memory 1220, a lockingmechanism 1230, and a lock control mechanism 1240. The sensor 1212 maybe configured to receive access credential information from a credentialdevice placed in proximity to the sensor 1212. For example, the sensor1212 may be configured to utilize near field communication (NFC) orBluetooth communication to receive access credentials from an credentialdevice (e.g., a resident's smartphone, a fob, a smartcard, and thelike). Communication interface 1214 may be configured to communicativelycouple the offline door lock 1200 to smart hub 110 via a non-LoRaWANcommunication link, such as a Bluetooth communication link, for example.In an embodiment, the sensor 1212 may be omitted and the communicationinterface 1214 may be configured to utilize one or more non-LoRa-basedcommunication links, such as a Bluetooth communication link, a ZigBeecommunication link, and/or other types of non-LoRa communication links,to communicate with a smart thermostat hub and/or to receive, disable,or otherwise manage access credentials, as described herein.

In an embodiment, communication interface 1214 may include one or moreLoRa-based communication interfaces configured to communicatively couplethe offline door lock 1200 directly to a remote system, such as aproperty management platform configured in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure. In such an embodiment, rather thancommunicating with a smart hub to perform various operations withrespect to the offline door lock 1200, as described above, the propertymanagement platform, which may be provided via server 130 of FIG. 1 ,may communicate control information directly to offline door lock 1200via a LoRa-gateway (e.g., LoRa-gateway 136 of FIG. 1 ), such as toretrieve at least a portion of the log information maintained by offlinedoor lock 1200, manage access credentials associated with offline doorlock 1200, or other operations described herein. Because offline doorlock 1200 includes, at least in the embodiment described in thisexample, a LoRa-based communication interface, offline door lock 1200may be able to bi-directionally communicate with the property managementplatform, such as to transmit a requested portion of the access loginformation to the property management platform via a LoRa-gateway usingLoRa-based communication links, as described above.

As shown in FIG. 12 , memory 1220 of the offline door lock 1200 maystore access credential validation information 1222 and access log data1224. Additional aspects of access credential validation information1222 and the access log data are described in more detail above withreference to FIGS. 1-6 . As described above, the lock processor 1210 maybe configured to determine a validity of access credential informationpresented to the sensor 1212 (or the communication interface 1214) basedon the access credential validation information 1222. Additionally, thelock processor 1210 may be configured to selectively engage the lockcontrol mechanism 1240 based on whether access credential is valid.

In an embodiment, the locking mechanism 1230 comprises a deadbolt 1232and the lock control mechanism 1240 may comprise a rotatable member1242. The locking mechanism 1230 may be configurable to change betweenthe locked state and the unlocked state via rotation of the rotatablemember. For example, in response to successful authentication of accesscredentials presented to the sensor 1212 (e.g., the presented accesscredential information is determined to be valid), the lock processor1210 may engage the lock control mechanism 1240, and the engagement ofthe lock control mechanism 1240 may facilitate interaction between thelock control mechanism 1240 and the locking mechanism 1230. For example,engagement of the lock control mechanism 1240 may configure therotatable member 1242 such that rotation of the rotatable member 1242 ina first direction drives the deadbolt 1232 to a first positioncorresponding to the locked state, as shown at 1202, and rotation of therotatable member 1242 in a second direction drives the deadbolt 1232 toa second position corresponding to the unlocked state, as shown at 1204.The lock processor 1210 may be configured to ignore invalid or disabledcredentials. In such instances, interaction between the lock controlmechanism 1240 and the locking mechanism 1230 may be prohibited. Forexample, when an invalid or disabled credential is presented, the lockcontrol mechanism 1240 may not be engaged by the lock processor 1210 inresponse to receipt of an invalid access credential and the lockingmechanism 1230 may be maintained in a current state (e.g., either thelocked state or the unlocked state). In such instances, the rotatablemember 1242 may freely rotate without impacting the locking mechanism1232. As another example, rotation of the rotatable member 1242 may beprevented, thereby causing the lock control mechanism to maintain acurrent state (e.g., either the locked state or the unlocked state).Thus, in the absence of engagement of the locking mechanism 1240, thelocking mechanism 1230 may remain in the locked state or the unlockedstate (e.g., until a valid credential is presented).

In an embodiment, the lock control mechanism 1240 may include one ormore electro-mechanical components 1244, such as one or more circuits,motors, actuators, gears, or other components, configured toelectrically, mechanically, or electro-mechanically configure thelocking mechanism 1230 to change between the locked state and theunlocked state. For example, in response presentation of a valid accesscredential, the one or more electro-mechanical components 1244 may beactivated to automatically drive the deadbolt 1232 to the first positionor the second position. In response to presentation of an invalid accesscredential, the one or more electro-mechanical components may beconfigured to maintain the locking mechanism 1230 in a current state(e.g., the deadbolt 1232 may be maintained at the first position or thesecond position). In embodiments comprising an offline door lock 1200that includes electro-mechanical components 1244, the offline door lock1200 may further include a power supply, such as a battery or otherpower source, configured to supply operational power to theelectro-mechanical components 1244.

In addition to controlling the electro-mechanical components 1244 inresponse to valid access credentials, in an embodiment, the lockprocessor 1210 may be configured to activate or otherwise control theelectro-mechanical components 1244 to configure the locking mechanism1230 to change between the locked state and the unlocked state inresponse to commands received via a non-LoRa-based communication link,such as commands received from a smart hub configured in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. As described above, the smart hubmay be configured to generate such commands (e.g., lock commands and/orunlock commands) responsive to control information provided by aproperty management platform (e.g., the system 100 of FIG. 1 ) via aLoRa-based communication link (e.g., via server 130 and LoRa-gateway 136of FIG. 1 ). Additionally, the control information received at the smarthub may be generated by the property management platform in response toinformation received via a user interface, such as the user interfacedescribed above that allows a resident (or property managementpersonnel) to verify a status of the offline door lock as locked orunlocked. For example, if a status check indicates the offline door lockis unlocked, a request may be initiated from the user interface toproperty management platform to lock the offline door lock. In responseto such a request, control information identifying the offline door lockand including an instruction to configure the offline door lock to thelocked state may be communicated to the appropriate smart hub via theLoRa-based communication link and then the commands may be provided fromthe smart hub to the offline door lock via a non-LoRa-basedcommunication link, such as a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) communicationlink, a ZigBee communication link, a Zwave communication link, etc.

In an embodiment, the offline door lock 1200 may not be configured tofacilitate the use of remote unlock commands irrespective of whether theoffline door lock 1200 includes the electro-mechanical components 1244.For example, although access credentials may be disabled orenabled/provided via commands received from a smart hub in response tocontrol information transmitted to the smart hub by a propertymanagement platform, the offline door lock 1200 may be prevented fromenabling the locking mechanism to change between the locked state andthe unlocked state via commands received from the smart hub. In thisexample, the offline door lock 1200 may only enable the lockingmechanism to change between the locked state and the unlocked state whena valid access credential is received (e.g., via the sensor 1212 or thecommunication interface 1214) from a user device (e.g., smartphone,etc.) or third party device (e.g., a fob, a smartcard, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 13 , a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of asmart thermostat in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure is shown as a smart thermostat 1300. As shown in FIG. 13 ,the smart thermostat 1300 may include the components illustrated withrespect to the thermostat component 410 of FIG. 4 , however, rather thanincluding the smart hub interface 412, the smart thermostat 1300 mayinclude a LoRa-based communication interface. In such an embodiment, thesmart thermostat 1300 may be communicatively coupled to a propertymanagement platform (e.g., the system 100 of FIG. 1 ) via a LoRa-basedcommunication link, and may receive control information from theproperty management platform directly, as opposed to receiving commandsderived from control information by a smart hub. Such a directcommunication link may enable operational aspects of the smartthermostat 1300 to be configured, such as temperature settings,operating modes, and the like as described above, to be configured viacontrol information provided by the property management platform (e.g.,via server 130 and gateway 136 of FIG. 1 ) without requiring a smart hubto be provided in proximity to or in connection with the smartthermostat 1300. In this manner, the advantages provided by utilizing asmart hub to control a thermostat, such as to place the thermostat intovacant mode or other advantageous operations, may be provided by thesmart thermostat 1300 directly, thereby providing a more cost effectivesolution for situations where the additional functionality provided bythe smart hub (e.g., short-range communication with offline door locksand other smart devices) may not be desired or practical.

Although the embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantageshave been described in detail, it should be understood that variouschanges, substitutions and alterations can be made herein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by theappended claims. It should be noted that although the descriptionsprovided above with respect to FIGS. 1-13 have been described withreference to multi-family residential properties, embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be readily applied to other types of properties,such as commercial properties (e.g., office spaces, warehouses, storageunits, malls, and the like). Accordingly, it is to be understood thatembodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to use withmulti-family residential properties. Moreover, the scope of the presentapplication is not intended to be limited to the particular embodimentsof the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means,methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinaryskill in the art will readily appreciate from the present disclosure,processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means,methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed thatperform substantially the same function or achieve substantially thesame result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may beutilized according to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the appendedclaims are intended to include within their scope such processes,machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for controlling and securing smartdevices within a unit of a multi-family residential or commercialproperty, the system comprising: a smart thermostat hub enclosed withina housing and associated with a unit of a multi-family residential orcommercial property, the smart thermostat hub comprising: one or moreprocessors configured to implement a smart hub controller and a heating,ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controller, the HVAC controllerconfigured to control HVAC operations for the unit; a memorycommunicatively coupled to the one or more processors; a power interfaceconfigured to couple the smart thermostat hub to a power source, wherethe power interface is configured to be coupled to existing thermostatelectrical wiring of the unit such that the smart thermostat hub isconfigured to replace an existing thermostat of the unit; a firstinterface configured to communicatively couple the smart hub controllerto a property management platform for the multi-family residential orcommercial property via a bi-directional low-power, wide area network(LPWAN) communication link between the smart hub controller and theproperty management platform, the smart thermostat hub located at alocation different from a location of the property management platform;and a second interface configured to communicatively couple the smarthub controller to a plurality of smart devices via a non-LPWANcommunication link, and where the smart hub controller is configured to:receive control information from the property management platform viathe bi-directional LPWAN communication link, the control informationincluding a request for a status check associated with a smart doorlock, where the plurality of smart devices includes the smart door lock;transmit a command derived from the control information to the smartdoor lock via the non-LPWAN communication link; receive statusinformation from the smart door lock via the non-LPWAN communicationlink in response to the command; and transmit the status information tothe property management platform via the bi-directional LPWANcommunication link.
 2. The system of claim 1, where the smart hubcontroller is further configured to: receive additional controlinformation from the property management platform via the bi-directionalLPWAN communication link, the additional control information indicatingto lock the smart door lock; and transmit a lock command derived fromthe additional control information to the smart door lock via thenon-LPWAN communication link, the lock command configured to transitiona state of the smart door lock to a locked state.
 3. The system of claim1, where the status information indicates whether a current state of thesmart door lock is a locked state or an unlocked state.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, where the smart hub controller is further configured to:receive additional control information from the property managementplatform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link, the additionalcontrol information including one or more thermostat parameters; andinstruct the HVAC controller to modify one or more operationalthermostat settings based on the additional control information, the oneor more operational thermostat settings controlling a temperaturesetting, a thermostat operating mode, or both.
 5. The system of claim 1,where the smart hub controller is further configured to: receiveadditional control information from the property management platform viathe bi-directional LPWAN communication link, the additional controlinformation identifying a smart light fixture of the plurality of smartdevices and including information indicating an instruction to turn offthe smart light fixture or turn on the smart light fixture; generate oneor more light fixture commands configured to turn off the smart lightfixture or turn on the smart light fixture based on the additionalcontrol information; and transmit the one or more light fixture commandsto the smart light fixture via the non-LPWAN communication link.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5, where: the additional control information comprisesscheduling information that identifies a first time and a second timethat is different from the first time; the first time corresponds to atime to turn on the smart light fixture and the second time correspondsto a time to turn off the smart light fixture; and the one or more lightfixture commands comprise a first light fixture command to turn on thesmart light fixture at the first time and a second light fixture commandto turn off the smart light fixture at the second time.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, where the smart door lock comprises an offline door lock. 8.The system of claim 1, where the non-LPWAN communication link comprisesat least one of a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) communication link, a ZigBeecommunication link, a Bluetooth communication link, and a Bluetooth LowEnergy (BLE) communication link.
 9. The system of claim 1, where thebi-directional LPWAN communication link is implemented using a LongRange (LoRa) wide area network (LoRaWAN) communication link.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, where coupling the existing thermostat electricalwiring of the unit with the power interface includes additionalconfiguration of electrical wiring.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherethe additional configuration comprises tapping or splicing one or moreelectrical wires.
 12. The system of claim 1, where: the smart hubcontroller is communicatively coupled to the property managementplatform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link withoutrequiring deployment of Wi-Fi network infrastructure at the multi-familyresidential or commercial property; and the first interface isconfigured to support communication between the smart hub controller andthe property management platform via the bi-directional LPWANcommunication link without using Wi-Fi.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherethe plurality of smart devices further include a smart light and anadditional smart device located within the unit, and where the smart hubcontroller is further configured to: receive additional controlinformation from the property management platform via the bi-directionalLPWAN communication link; and transmit commands to the smart light andthe additional smart device via the non-LPWAN communication link, thecommands based on the additional control information.
 14. The system ofclaim 1, where the smart thermostat hub includes an input/output (I/O)device configured to provide diagnostic information regarding operationsof the smart thermostat hub.
 15. The system of claim 1, where theproperty management platform and the smart hub controller are configuredto cause generation of diagnostic information regarding operations ofthe smart thermostat hub using the bi-directional LPWAN communicationlink.
 16. The system of claim 1, where the smart hub controller isfurther configured to transmit, via the bi-directional LPWANcommunication link, a notification message to the property managementplatform, the notification message regarding a state associated with theunit.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the notification messagecorresponds to an indication that the smart door lock is in an unlockedstate.
 18. The system of claim 1, where the request for the status checkis initiated by a smartphone of a user.
 19. The system of claim 1, wherethe smart hub controller is further configured to receive additionalcontrol information from the property management platform via thebi-directional LPWAN communication link, the additional controlinformation configured to reduce or prevent water related damage in theunit.
 20. The system of claim 1, where the smart hub controller isfurther configured to: receive additional control information from theproperty management platform via the bi-directional LPWAN communicationlink, the additional control information indicating to place the HVACcontroller into a vacant mode; and instruct the HVAC controller to setone or more operational parameters of the HVAC controller into thevacant mode in response to receiving the additional control information.21. The system of claim 20, where the vacant mode corresponds to adesignation that the unit is not currently assigned to any resident bymanagement of the multi-family residential or commercial property. 22.The system of claim 1, wherein the smart hub controller is furtherconfigured to: receive additional control information from the propertymanagement platform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link, theadditional control information indicating to place the HVAC controllerinto a vacant mode; instruct the HVAC controller to set one or moreoperational parameters of the HVAC controller into the vacant mode inresponse to receiving the additional control information, the vacantmode corresponding to a designation that the unit is not currentlyassigned to any resident by management of the multi-family residentialor commercial property; receive other additional control informationfrom the property management platform via the bi-directional LPWANcommunication link at a later time when the unit is subsequentlyassigned to a resident, the other additional control informationindicating to transition the HVAC controller from the vacant mode; andprovide additional instruction to the HVAC controller to modify settingsof the one or more operational parameters of the HVAC controller inresponse to receiving the other additional control information.
 23. Thesystem of claim 1, where the smart hub controller is further configuredto receive additional control information from the property managementplatform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link, the additionalcontrol information for configuring the smart hub controller regardingwater-related damage in the unit.
 24. The system of claim 1, where thesmart hub controller is further configured to receive additional controlinformation from the property management platform via the bi-directionalLPWAN communication link, the additional control information forconfiguring the smart hub controller to prevent damage to paint in theunit.
 25. The system of claim 1, where the smart thermostat hub furthercomprises one or more input/output (I/O) devices configured to enable auser to issue a control action, and where the smart thermostat hub isconfigured to be controlled based on the control action and by aproperty manager by communications received from the property managementplatform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link.
 26. The systemof claim 25, where the smart hub controller is further configured to:provide configuration information to the HVAC controller to change atemperature of the unit based on the control action corresponding aninstruction to change the temperature; and provide other configurationinformation to the HVAC controller to change the temperature based onthe communications including another instruction to change thetemperature.
 27. A method for controlling and securing smart deviceswithin a unit of a multi-family residential or commercial property, themethod comprising: receiving, by a smart hub controller implemented byone or more processors of a smart thermostat hub, control informationfrom a property management platform for a multi-family residential orcommercial property via a bi-directional low power, wide area network(LPWAN) communication link between the property management platform andthe smart hub controller, where: the smart thermostat hub is enclosedwithin a housing and is associated with a unit of the multi-familyresidential or commercial property, the one or more processors implementthe smart hub controller and a heating, ventilation, and airconditioning (HVAC) controller configured to control HVAC operations forthe unit, the smart thermostat hub comprises a power interfaceconfigured to couple the smart thermostat electrical wiring of the unitsuch that the smart thermostat hub is configured to replace an existingthermostat of the unit, the smart hub controller is located at alocation different from a location of the property management platform,the control information includes a request for a status check associatedwith a smart door lock, and a plurality of smart devices configured tobe communicatively coupled to the smart thermostat hub via a non-LPWANcommunication link includes the smart door lock; transmitting, by thesmart hub controller, a command derived from the control information tothe smart door lock via the non-LPWAN communication link; receiving, bysmart hub controller, status information from the smart door lock viathe non-LPWAN communication link in response to the command; andtransmitting, by the smart hub controller, the status information to theproperty management platform via the bi-directional LPWAN communicationlink.
 28. The method of claim 27, further comprising: receiving, by thesmart hub controller, additional control information from the propertymanagement platform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link, theadditional control information identifying the smart door lock andindicating to unlock the smart door lock; generating, by the smart hubcontroller and based on the additional control information, an unlockcommand configured to transition a state of the smart door lock to anunlocked state; and transmitting, by the smart hub controller, theunlock command to the smart door lock via the non-LPWAN communicationlink.
 29. The method of claim 27, further comprising: receiving, by thesmart hub controller, additional control information from the propertymanagement platform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link, theadditional control information indicating that a software upgrade isavailable; and in response to receiving the additional controlinformation, performing, by the smart hub controller, the softwareupgrade.
 30. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to perform operations for controlling andsecuring smart devices within a unit of a multi-family residential orcommercial property, the operations comprising: at a smart thermostathub that is enclosed within a housing and is associated with a unit of amulti-family residential or commercial property, the smart thermostathub configured to implement a smart hub controller and a heating,ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controller configured tocontrol HVAC operations for the unit, the smart thermostat hubcomprising a power interface configured to couple the smart thermostathub to a power source, the power interface configured to be coupled toexisting thermostat electrical wiring of the unit such that the smartthermostat hub is configured to replace an existing thermostat of theunit, the smart thermostat hub communicatively coupled to a propertymanagement platform for the multi-family residential or commercialproperty via a bi-directional low power, wide area network (LPWAN)communication link between the property management platform and thesmart thermostat hub, the smart thermostat hub being located at alocation different from a location of the property management platform,and the smart thermostat hub communicatively coupled to a plurality ofsmart devices via a non-LPWAN communication link; receiving controlinformation from the property management platform via the bi-directionalLPWAN communication link, the control information including a requestfor a status check associated with a smart door lock included in theplurality of smart devices; transmitting a command derived from thecontrol information to the smart door lock via the non-LPWANcommunication link; receiving status information from the smart doorlock via the non-LPWAN communication link in response to the command;and transmitting the status information to the property managementplatform via the bi-directional LPWAN communication link.